Danoz99CTD

Has anyone replaced their liquid line on a 2nd gen with an aftermarket line that has a removable orifice tube? My 99's liquid line has the tube fixed in the line. I replaced this line last year but now I have a blockage right at the orifice tube. I know this because the line will ice over to the tube if I trick the commpressor to running at the drier with a paper clip in the plug. I don't have gauges, probably would have scared the you know what out of me seeing the pressure on the high side. I'm gonna have to tear into this thing. I hope I don't have a leak at the Evap, I would rather it be the compressor. I have just hot air at the vents and my charge is low according to a cheapo fill gauge. Let me know what you guys think.

Busboy

First there should be nothing in the system to plug the orifice, if you have never had a compressor chew itself up then its probably the drier. Either way you need to flush the system and replace the drier and I would also replace the orifice tube as well. After flushing and reassembling the system don't forget to add the FULL 6.2 oz of oil to the compressor. If you don't do the flush you will continue to have problems, removable orifice or not.

Danoz99CTD

Truly I'm AC stupid. The reason I asked is because I changed both lines and the drier last year, because it was low. My neighbor is auto mechanic with ac exp. and has all the stuff for it. He pulled a vacuum on it and it held it overnight so I assumed there was no leak. I have always had to add freon every year for the 3 years. I was thinking evap leak because his sniffer couldn't find anything. I just hate to buy the liquid line again at $80. Why Dodge crimps the Otube in the middle of the line is obvious $$$! Parts guy at Dodge keeps five on hand. Orifice tubes are $3. I was wondering if a guy could put the orifice tube at the connection from the evap or the condenser with an aftermarket line. I guess when I pull the line if there is metal in it I'll know it's the compressor. Thanks for the tip on the flushing, I have not done that. What kind of flush do I buy, and how much do I put in? How do you get it out? Air? Thanks

Busboy

In the good ol days when freon was cheap we would just blow each section/part out with liquid freon. Most AC shops now have flushing rigs but you could still do it yourself if you take it all apart and back flush each part. Here is a link to help.
http://www.4s.com/fourseasons/tech_t...ish/ab324.html

The trick is to leave the vacuum pump on a long time after flushing to ensure you boil all the moisture out of the system.

Danoz99CTD

You da man Busboy. I'm gonna do the heater core/evap replacement. My airflow has dropped in half since before last winter. No telling whats in there, hopefully I will see some evidence of a leak. I can check all the seals to. At least I'll have the piece of mind it's been done. Doesn't seem to be too bad of a job. I know I don't want to pay anybody to do it. I won't have time to do it for another couple weeks, but I don't drive the truck much nowadays anyway. I'll post up my results.